Man With Almost No Paper Trail — “James” Fleming

B. about 1778 in Virginia^1,2
M. before 24 Jun 1802 in (probably) Washington County, Kentucky³
Wife: ______ Hand
D. before 1830 in Ohio or Indiana⁴

James Fleming is the speculative link to the paternal ancestors of Mary Fleming (1819-1907). The details which are written here are based on much circumstantial evidence and my own DNA test results.

There are several facts that are certain about the father of Mary. His last name was Fleming, he was born in Virginia (possibly the part that’s now West Virginia),² and since Mary was born in Ohio in 1819,^2,5 we can place him there. He was also married to a woman born in New Jersey² — a less-than common combination of husband and wife birthplaces in early 19th-century America.

Mary first appears in records in Parke County, Indiana, where she married in 1838.⁶ We know that she had a brother Eli who was born in 1804,^7,8 and that two other men also appear to be brothers, James (born 1802)^3,9 and Henry (born 1810).¹⁰ I share various segments of DNA with a few descendants of all three. While these men showed up in records in Parke County, no potential father lived among them, which suggests that their father was deceased. Also significant is that while the older two brothers were born in Kentucky, Henry was born in Ohio. (There is also a possible sister Susannah who was born in 1823, but it’s uncertain if she might be the daughter of Eli.¹³)

The migration of the Fleming family emerges led by the unnamed father: Virginia to Kentucky to Ohio to Indiana. This is where my DNA results show clustered matches with descendants of another couple who had a similar path, Eli and Jane Hand, except that they wound up in Illinois instead of Indiana.¹⁴ What’s more is that Jane’s maiden name was Fleming, and in 1840, one of her children had a farm sandwiched between two of the Parke County Flemings.¹⁵ We have to assume they were closely related.

Eli Hand and Jane Fleming were married on July 14, 1804 in Washington County, Kentucky, and accompanying their marriage license was an affidavit verifying the bride’s age signed by James Fleming.¹⁶ Family stories among Eli Hand descendants suggest that this was Jane’s brother.¹⁷ There are also Washington County tax lists between 1796 and 1800 naming a James Fleming, possibly the same man from the marriage record.¹⁸ Jane Fleming said her family had moved to Kentucky during the 1780s, and had been born in Virginia.¹⁷

It was said that Jane’s father had served in the American Revolution as a colonel, then went west after the war;¹⁷ this was a typical migration for former soldiers who were paid with bounty land instead of money. Washington County was one of the places many veterans ended up. It was a remote environment to grow up, making social connections often challenging, and some families experienced multiple marriages between two families. And my DNA suggests that this happened between the Flemings and the Hands, because I show strong matches with descendants of Eli Hand’s brother. In other words, James Fleming must have been married to an unnamed sister of Eli.¹⁹

More proof of this is that the Hand family came from New Jersey,²⁰ which was also the birthplace of Mary Fleming’s mother. Also the second son in the family that ended up in Parke County, Indiana was named “Eli H. Fleming,”²¹ and the first born son of Eli Hand was named “James Fleming Hand,”¹⁷ adding more merit to the idea that there was a strong relationship between the two families.

By 1810, the family of Eli Hand moved to Ohio (they would eventually settle in Illinois).²² That same year, Henry Fleming was born in Ohio, then his sister Mary in 1819. The family moved to Indiana within the next ten years, but unfortunately, the name James Fleming isn’t found in records either in place. The younger James Fleming and Eli Fleming were both listed in the 1830 census for Parke County. Eli had an adolescent girl in his household who was too old to be his daughter, and therefore could be his sister Mary. He also had a woman in her forties, who could be his mother as a widow. That would mean James Fleming had died before 1830.³

Will there ever be a paper trail to validate the identity of Mary Fleming’s father? Probably not, what is shown here falls short of the threshold of genealogical proof. Still, it’s worth presenting, especially since the people and scenario I have named here offer an explanation to the unusual migration pattern of Mary Fleming’s parents, and at the same time, fits with my DNA results.

Children:
1. James Fleming — B. 24 Jun 1802, (probably) Washington County, Kentucky;³ D. 10 Nov 1858, (probably) Polk County, Iowa;³ M. Catherine ______ (~1803-?)⁹

2. Eli H. Fleming — B. 16 Feb 1804, (probably) Washington County, Kentucky;²³ D. 6 Sep 1876, Humboldt, Kansas;²³ M. Sarah ________ (~1810-?)⁸

3. Henry Harrison Fleming — B. about 1810, Ohio;¹⁰ D. after 16 Jan 1876, (probably) Humboldt County, California;²⁴ M. (1) Nancy ______ (~1810-?);¹⁰ (2) Nancy Jones (1829-1905), 20 Aug 1854, Clackamas County, Oregon²⁵

4. Mary Fleming — B. 16 Aug 1819, Ohio;^2,5 D. 31 Mar 1907, Grady County, Oklahoma;⁵ M. Jackson Sutherlin (~1815-1878), 17 Jan 1838, Parke County, Indiana⁶

5. (possibly) Susannah Fleming — B. about 1823, Indiana;¹³ D. after 1875, (probably) Allen County, Kansas;¹³ M. John R. Butler (1814-1901), 15 Feb 1841, Daviess County, Missouri²⁶

Sources:
1    The approximate birth year for James Fleming is based on the age of his oldest known child.
2    1880 U.S. Census, Everett, Kansas (showing birth places of daughter Mary’s parents)
3    Find-a-Grave listing of James Flemming (this is James’ son) 
4    1830 U.S. Census, Parke County, Indiana
5    Find-a-Grave listing of Mary Sutherlin 
6    Marriage record of Jackson Sutherlin and Mary Fleming, Indiana, U.S., Marriages, 1810-2001, Ancestry.com
7    Local news paragraph in newspaper Humboldt Union (Kansas), 26 Sep 1907
8    1860 U.S. Census, Allen County, Kansas Territory
9    1850 U.S. Census, Polk County, Iowa
10  1850 U.S. Census, Holt County, Missouri
11  1840 U.S. Census, Parke County, Indiana (showing Eli and James Fleming)
12  Document regarding purchase of public land by Henry Harrison Fleming, Parke County, Indiana, 30 Sep 1834
13  1875 Kansas State Census, Allen County (listing shows Susan age 52 in household of Eli Fleming age 71)
14  1850 U.S. Census, Crawford County, Illinois
15  1840 U.S. Census, Parke County, Indiana (showing Henry Evans, George W. Hand and Asa Fleming)
16  Marriage record of Eli Hand and Jane Fleming, Kentucky, U.S., County Marriage Records, 1783-1965, Ancestry.com
17  Hand Family Scrapbook, compiled by Margaret Smith Isaac, 1986, pp. 43-44
18  Washington County, Kentucky Tax Books, 1797-1875, FamilySearch.org
19  Joining Hands: Using My DNA to reunite a Midwest family named Hand, Laura Mitchell, 2024
20  Hand Family Scrapbook, compiled by Margaret Smith Isaac, 1986, p.1
21  Document regarding purchase of public land by Eli H. Fleming, Parke County, Indiana, 10 Sep 1838
22  Hand Family Scrapbook, compiled by Margaret Smith Isaac, 1986, pp. 37-39
23  Find-a-Grave listing of Elijah H. Fleming 
24  1876 voters in Humboldt County, California, California, U.S., Voter Registers, 1866-1898
25  Marriage record of Henry H. Fleming and Nancy O’Connor, Western States Marriage Index, 1809-2011, Ancestry.com
26  Marriage record of John Butler and Susannah Fleming, Missouri Marriage Records, 1805-2002, FamilySearch.org